Dear friends and fans of George around the world... We have terrible news. George was hit and killed by a truck while biking in South Carolina on Monday, April 22, 2024, 730:pm.
John Greenfield wrote a report of what we know at this time, combined with a memorial, linked with permission below.
Feel free to post comments. We will keep his blog online. We will miss George greatly. My condolences to us all... Jeff Potter
https://chi.streetsblog.org/2024/04/24/legendary-chicago-bicycle-traveler-and-writer-george-christensen-killed-by-truck-driver-in-south-carolina
Here is a repost of the article:
As a longtime bicycle courier, and one of Chicago's most adventurous bike riders and writers, George Christensen did extensive cycling trips in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America. These included biking the length of three continents and one subcontinent, India. Starting in 2001, he eloquently documented his travels on his well-read blog, George the Cyclist.
But tragically, on Monday evening Christensen's life was cut short at age 73, when a truck driver fatally struck him as he rode through the southeastern United States.
On Tuesday morning sources notified Streetsblog that Christensen was the bike rider that a semi operator struck and killed Monday night near Ridgeway, South Carolina, a small town about 25 miles north of Columbia, the state capital. According to a report in The State by Noah Feit, on Monday, April 22, around 7:30 p.m. Christensen was cycling west on Highway 34, about three miles southeast of Ridgeway, near Autumn Drive. The sun would set a little after 8 p.m. that night.
South Carolina Highway Patrol Master Trooper Gary Miller told The State that the driver of a westbound 2022 Mack truck with a trailer hit the back of Christensen's bike, killing him. The trucker was uninjured, and no other injuries were reported.
Miller told The State that information about what caused the crash was not available yet, but the highway patrol was still investigating the case. There was no word on whether the trucker was issued charges or citations. Streetsblog has contacted the highway patrol to request an update on the case if it becomes available.
Wednesday morning, Fairfield County Coroner Chris Hill released the name the bicyclist killed in Monday's crash. "George Christensen, age 73, of Countryside, Illinois, was traveling west on Highway 34 in Ridgeway, SC when he was struck by a truck [driver] also traveling west on Highway 34," the coroner stated. "Mr. Christensen succumbed to his injuries on the scene of the [crash]. This incident continues to be investigated by Fairfield County Coroner’s Office and South Carolina Highway Patrol."
Christensen often wrote blog entries while pursuing one of his many passions, visiting historic Carnegie libraries across the United States. That was the case on this trip. Entries from earlier this month state that he recently rode Amtrak from Chicago to Washington D.C., took another train route to Orlando, Florida, then biked north near the Atlantic coast, stopping at libraries along the way. Here's a rough approximation of his route based on his April posts.
In the final entry of his blog on Sunday, April 21, Christensen, a hardcore cinephile, wrote that he traveled to Wilmington, North Carolina to visit old friends who are fellow Telluride Film Festival fans. After camping at their house, "I headed west out of town over the Cape Fear River once again towards South Carolina for six Carnegies [libraries] inland from the coast," he wrote.
Christensen blogged that after a few hours of cycling in 80-degree weather that day he stopped to buy a cold drink at a gas station mini mart. As he was sitting out front cooling off, the clerk came outside and offered him three boxes of chicken wings. "I see you’re biking," she said. "Here’s some chicken wings for you."
Christensen pedaled on into ominous weather. "Ninety minutes before dark clouds moved in and shortly there was thunder and lightning in the distance," he wrote in the last paragraph. "I was hoping the storm might bypass me, but when a few scattered drops of rain began to fall, I started looking for an easy access into the forest. I came upon a slightly overgrown path that led to an abandoned farmhouse, the first I had camped beside in these travels, setting up my tent having to only absorb a few drops of rain before it came down in earnest. I still had some chicken wings to mix in with my ramen." Fittingly, the last words of his blog highlighted the goodwill he often encountered from people he met on the road.
Christensen's longtime partner Janina Ciezadlo graciously shared some thoughts with Streetsblog. "I trust people who know George, or are just learning about him, know that he was a legendary touring cyclist traveling everywhere from Oman to Madagascar to Iceland. He was an inspiring, encouraging ambassador of the bike. He wanted everyone to ride. Needless to say, he kept my bike in working order."
"He lived simply and devoted himself to cycling," she added. "He visited the Tour De France for almost 20 summers and followed the course [on bicycle]. He was an expert on its history and culture; He died with a plane reservation for this year’s Tour. Much of his touring life was centered on visiting and documenting all the Carnegie libraries in the world. Photographs of these beautiful early 20th century buildings can be found on his blog. He loved libraries."
"George had an extraordinary range of interests," Ciezadlo concluded. "As a volunteer he gave of his time at Facets Multimedia here in Chicago and at the Telluride Film Festival; he had a tremendous amount of knowledge about film and film festivals. He was a reader. Among other books, he recently had read all of Balzac and Zola, and of course watched every classic film adaption of those novels. Lately he had been volunteering in restoration projects in the Cook County Forest Preserves. Some people will know that he was an incurable dumpster diver and distributed recovered food to others."
Elizabeth Adamczyk, organizer of the annual Chicago Ride of Silence and a longtime friend of Christensen, said they met through her work at Northwestern University, where he was an alumnus. "We both had a love of learning and a love of bicycling, and we became fast friends. George was integral to me becoming a year-round cyclist. He was a voracious reader, very knowledgeable about Carnegie libraries, pro cycling, his next bike adventure, and anything else that he decided to learn about."
"In recent years he got to know my mother and, helped her out with random household tasks," she added. "He was always there to lend a hand, and he loved to help."
According to Adamczyk, 2023 was the first year Christensen was in Chicago for the Ride of Silence, which honors fallen cyclists. "He was thrilled to participate in person." She said he will be honored and memorialized at this year's event on Wednesday, May 15. The location and other details will be announced soon and publicized by Streetsblog.
Just two weeks ago, when I was traveling by car in a location where year-round high winds make bicycle touring seem like a thankless task, I thought of George Christensen, an old bike messenger colleague of mine. I told my companion that, impressively, Christensen had done the same route on two wheels more than 20 years ago.
Hopefully it will be some comfort to George's loved ones to know that his life ended while he was doing something he obviously loved.
Check out George Christensen's blog George the Cyclist here.
Read a 2006 profile of Christensen in the Chicago Reader here.
Update 4/24/24, 11:45 AM:
Bike and pedestrian injury attorney Michael Keating (a Streetsblog
Chicago sponsor) provided this statement. "[Keating Law Offices has]
been retained to represent the Estate of George Christensen for this
tragic event and senseless loss of life. Like many Chicago cyclists, I
remember George well and this is a very sad time. I have been in contact
with the investigating trooper in South Carolina and George's family
regarding what happened. We have already begun an investigation and are
in the process of gathering more information."
7 comments:
I am so, so sorry and so, so sad. I worked with George at the Telluride Film Festival for over 20 years and have followed him via this blog since around 2000. Every time I see a white-bearded guy on a bike or pass a Carnegie Library I will think of him. And as he always signed off on his emails with this quote from H.G. Wells, "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." Thanks George.
I was sorry to hear of George's passing. It's amazing how many lives he touched, and how many connections that he made. I interacted with him for just one day, but that left a permanent, positive impression on me. -Andrew (aka the Bills fan from George's 6/27/20 blog post)
From Craig Macdonald...
I knew George for about 20 years. A common friend introduced us in 2003 because he knew George would be following the Tour de France (literally) on his bike, and I would be in France during that time. George called me, took down my contact information for France, and he showed up on our doorstep just before dusk with a friend in tow, both looking chilly and damp. I fed them liberally, gave them shelter for the night, and rode with them on the first 16 Km of their trajectory the next morning. I learned two things about George during that short first visit. He tended to interview you rather than converse with you, and he liked to sleep on the floor, even given the option of a couch.
George's endearing if somewhat annoying non-stop questioning might have been a way of deflecting attention from his own personal life, but what he gleaned always served as fodder his blog posts. He had a knack of digging and probing to find some sort of controversy, his studies in journalism being apparent. He relished being a conduit for a rather long-running argument about the efficacy of medical masks between myself and one of his medical friends, for one small example.
George and I shared small biking adventures during the colder months in Chicago, running errands of various kinds on our bikes, including recovering large quantities of perfectly good food disposed by various grocery stores. I soon helped him repair one of the bikes in his stable. With our wrenching skills and his impressive parts stash, we soon had the idea to start a little hobby business of recovering, repairing, and selling unloved bicycles, feeling good about putting more butts on more saddles. George was easy to work with. We made a good team, and we always had a good time.
He stopped at my place in France repeatedly over the years, and I accompanied him from there on small sections of three of his annual fully-loaded long-haul tours. I tagged along with him to Mont St. Michel, to Cannes for the film festival, and to Albi with his Australian friend Andrew. I learned a lot of touring tricks from George, such as how to choose a tent, how to organize panniers, and how to find a suitable wild camping site as the sun was setting. George had his routine down so pat that he could be in his tent reading a book and eating within about three minutes of finding a suitable wild camping site. Likewise breaking camp in the morning. He would always be waiting for me to get myself packed up for departure after what always felt like a little too short of a night on a little too hard ground.
George enriched the lives of so many people, and we'll all be missing him.
I just found out about George's death. I knew George back in the late 80"s when we worked for Cannonball as bike messengers. He was always kind, reading books and had something encouraging to say. We lost a sweet cycling soul on April 22, 2024.
Here's an update on the legal case on Streetsblog Chicago. One takeaway from the documents obtained is that dashcam footage and witness testimony indicates George was following the letter of the law, riding as far to the right as possible, before the truck driver struck him.
https://chi.streetsblog.org/2024/11/22/foiaed-documents-reveal-more-about-how-a-truck-driver-killed-legendary-chicago-bike-traveler-and-writer-george-christensen
Not a DAY passes without George coming to MY MIND !
Had hoped he would join me at the Giro d'ITALIA , since he had said that it would Happen !
I had arrived in Rome and received the email from Vince and was at the Under 23 Road Race near the Coliseum when i saw this Devastating Situation and there were Teams ' Support Staff there , that were EQUALLY Dismayed !
" POGI " in recent Days has said he will be supporting the ACTION that was announced after the " Dooring " of Remco ( Dual Olympic Champion ) in recent days !
George was kind enough to mention My efforts for " Cyclist safety ", on a regular basis , as he was aware of the Placards & Gilet , that the Pro Racers would be photo'd with from 2014 !
April 2014 at Aigle ( UCI HQ ) , i had a commitment from Brian Cookson ( UCI President ) to FOLLOW the Initiative of the FIFA Respect Campaign , and put into the agenda of the UCI Conference at Ponferrado a Similar Action for "Cyclist Safety "!
THIS did not happen , though the Current President , Tweets , REGRET , when a Pro Racer is KILLED in the Traffic !
With 250+ Male & 100+ Female Photos available , i am astounded that the Pro Racers have made LITTLE EFFORT to get the attention of the Media !
Pro Racers ENDURE the same RISKS that the Cycling Community suffer , AND , even in the areas where the Producers of the Cycling Equipment are located , Cyclists are AT SEVERE RISK ! NB The founder of WILLIER Bikes , was MOWN Down on a Sunday Morning , perhaps by a Church Goer / Employee /Neighbour ?
Even the loss of Michelle Scarponi & Davide rebellin , let alone MANY other Pro Racers , has gone DURING the past 10 years , without UCI ACTION !
So , we now hear that the GOAT , King EDDIE has suffered a Fall , arriving in the SAME Hospital as REMCO !
Readers of this Comment , COULD or SHOULD , Google BOTH , then go look at " staying alive at 1_5 " Photos , ALSO " safecyclingaustralia " in Facebook during the period of July/August 2016 , 17 ,18 , 19
PERHAPS , You will recognise SOME of the Racers , Male & Female , IF SO , Copy & Paste the Photo To THEM , and REQUEST , that they ACT and Canvass the MEDIA , to Assist in PROTECTING THEMSELVES , as well AS YOU !
Nobody in Oz , gives a fig for MY EFFORTS , BUT , IF , enough of YOU , ACT in this way ,
THEN
Perhaps
UCI will do as the FORMULA ONE , have already done , before Covid , and SPEND MONEY , campaigning ?
Enough to YOU ACTING , will be Testimony to George 's Lagacy ?
EACH Cyclist LOST , is One TOO MANY !
SPREAD THE WORD
so that , each time YOU RIDE , you get home , without meeting a "Two Ton Overcoat " , whose DRIVER turns on the Ignition , then turns off the BRAIN !
Skippy
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